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Sunday, April 22, 2012

absolutely nothing! Ever since the ablation of my heart on April 9 I have had exactly zero episodes of ventricular tachycardia (the more serious heart arrhythmia that the doctors weren't able to successfully ablate)... zero! Praise God! And that isn't just from me sitting around quietly either! My cardiac doctor gave me the go-ahead to begin running/cycling/swimming again five days after my heart procedure. (Past posts about my heart "issues" here, if you are interested)

In the past week I've actually ramped up my workouts quite a bit... yesterday Tom and I went on a 7 mile trail run on some local (very hilly!) mountain bike trails near us. What a *blast*!! Being able-bodied and "able" to work out is a privilege that I won't be taking for granted.

So the big question for me is, "Will the V-Tach rear its' ugly head again?" No one really knows the answer to that. The ablation for sure did not target the problem spot that was causing my V-Tach. But I do think that it is possible that the huge amount of SVTs that I was having were putting my heart in an "irritated" state which might have made me more predisposed to the V-Tach episodes that I was having. Since the ablation I have had zero SVTs, which were waking me up multiple times at night, so I am pretty sure that the ablations did totally take care of that.

So in summary, all's good thus far! Thank you once again for praying and for caring. I am *so* blessed by each one of you!

And now, for those of you who patiently read through all of that boring medical drivel, I will reward you with a few photos from the farm here... as you will see, we are seriously drowning in cuteness right now!

We purchased a duckling this spring. So fun! Every year we purchase chicks, some for egg-laying and others for our freezer. They are pretty cute, at least for a week or two, but they are outside (for good reason!) and outgrow their adorableness pretty quickly.

Since we only purchased one duckling we decided to temporally keep him in the house in a small cage. This little guy is super-spoiled! And he just keeps staying "cute"... it would seem that ducklings don't get their feathers nearly as quickly as chickens. All of that yellow puffy fuzz is pretty adorable!

It seems that he is being held almost all day long by someone.

Plus, he really loves having his photo taken!

Can you guess what these next cuties are?

If you guessed something related to Thanksgiving dinner, you're right!

We raised our own turkeys last year for the first time. My oh my, were they yummy! When we butchered them just before Thanksgiving last year, the largest tom was 44lbs! I wasn't sure that he would even fit in my oven!

Check out our Corgi Jasper supervising my photo shoot of the duckling and turkeys. He feels compelled to herd anything that moves here. He was just waiting for one of them to make a break for it, then he could cut them off at the pass.

Our little duckling, Ping (aka Aflac) thinks that the *best* place to sit is on his peoples' shoulder, right up by their neck, where it is nice and warm! First he climbs up the shirt .... inevitably causing lots of giggles,

then snuggles down for a nice warm nap!

Here, Daniel is teaching Ping to count! He's such a smart duckling!

He was soon fast asleep!

In addition to the duckling, turkey poults and baby chickens, we have 13 baby goats and our new Great Pyrenees puppy "Teddy!"

Even the wild animals around here are busy being "cute!" Check out this baby box turtle that the boys found! He is only about 2" long~ isn't spring fun?!!

And finally, I have to show off the quilt top that Abbie recently finished. I won a fabulous set of fat quarters last year and this is how miss Abbie put them to use. I am seriously in love with the colors and the stars.

How awesome. All of it!!! Praise God. You must feel like a new woman..but you sure have had some random scares these past few years, eh?

It looks like you are really getting into the farm life. We are tapping back into it too. Big kids growing up and youngers wanting something new to do and learn about. Also homesteading skills are so appealing. Soapmaking, more jams and canning, a bigger garden and making yogurt are things I used to do that I want to get back to along with more animals.

Your pics are just awesome. You photography skills are just wonderful. God bless.

Susan, it's wonderful to read your update ! Praise the Lord ! Abbie's quilt is beautiful ! We have raised chickens and ducklings also and would love to try turkey. Ducklings are cute but really messy if you give them water to play in...boy do they love it though!

Love all of your wonderfully good news and precious pictures! Praising God for your good health report and rejoicing with you over Spring and all of God's goodness. Abbie's quilt is absolutely beautiful!Blessings~